Last race double points

[GwilymJJames]

Today, the FIA, in their infinite wisdom, announced that the final race of the season now carries double points. This of course raises the question - which past champions would change with this rule?

1950 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1951 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1952 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1953 - Same (Fangio misses by a half point)
1954 - Same (Hawthorn nowhere near Fangio)
1955 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1956 - CHANGE (Moss 35, Fangio 33)
1957 - Same (Moss nowhere near Fangio)
1958 - CHANGE (Moss 50, Hawthorn 49)
1959 - Same (Brabham 35, Brooks 31)

1960 - Same (Brabham 46, McLaren 42)
1961 - Same (Neither of the top two at final race)
1962 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1963 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1964 - Same (Note that Surtees now beats G.Hill on total points, as well as with exclusions)
1965 - Same (all challengers retired at final race)
1966 - Same (Brabham 48, Surtees 37)
1967 - Same (Hulme 55, Brabham 52, Clark 50)
1968 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1969 - Same (Stewart well clear)

1970 - CHANGE (Ickx 49, Rindt 45)
1971 - Same (Stewart well clear)
1972 - Same (Fittipaldi 61, Stewart 55)
1973 - Same (Stewart well clear)
1974 - Same (Fittipaldi 58, Regazzoni 52)
1975 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1976 - Same (Hunt 73, Lauda 68. Spoilers for Rush, BTW)
1977 - Same (Lauda 72, Scheckter 55)
1978 - Same (Andretti 64, Reutemann 52)
1979 - CHANGE (G. Villeneuve 56, Scheckter 51)

1980 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1981 - CHANGE (Jones 55, Piquet 52, Reutemann 49)
1982 - Same (Rosberg 46, Watson 45)
1983 - Same (Piquet 63, Prost 57)
1984 - CHANGE (Prost 80.5, Lauda 78)
1985 - Same (All challengers retired)
1986 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1987 - Same (all challengers retired)
1988 - Same (Senna 96 with 8 wins, Prost 96 with 7 wins)
1989 - Same (all challengers retired)

1990 - Same (Senna 78, Prost 75)
1991 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1992 - Same (Mansell well in front)
1993 - Same (Prost 105, Senna 83)
1994 - Same (Both drivers retired)
1995 - Same (Schumacher well in front)
1996 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1997 - Same (J. Villeneuve 85, Schumacher DSQ)
1998 - Same (last race winner won championship)
1999 - Same (last race winner won championship)

2000 - Same (last race winner won championship)
2001 - Same (last race winner won championship)
2002 - Same (last race winner won championship)
2003 - CHANGE (Raikkonen 99, Schumacher 94)
2004 - Same (Schumacher well in front)
2005 - Same (last race winner won championship)
2006 - Same (Alonso 142, Schumacher 126)
2007 - Same (last race winner won championship)
2008 - CHANGE (Massa 107, Hamilton 102)
2009 - Same (Button 101, Vettel 94)

2010 - Same (last race winner won championship)
2011 - Same (Vettel way infront)
2012 - CHANGE (Alonso 296, Vettel 289)
2013 - Same (last race winner won championship)

===Champions===
Michael Schumacher - 6
Alain Prost - 5
Juan Fangio - 4
Fernando Alonso, Jack Brabham, Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart, Sebastian Vettel - 3
Alberto Ascari, Jim Clark, Emmerson Fittipaldi, Mika Hakkinen, Graham Hill, Alan Jones, Niki Lauda, Sterling Moss, Nelson Piquet, Kimi Raikkonen - 2
Mario Andretti, Jenson Button, Guiseppe Farina, Damon Hill, Phil Hill, Denny Hulme, James Hunt, Jacky Ickx, Nigel Mansell, Felipe Massa, Keke Rosberg, John Surtees, Gilles Villeneuve, Jacques Villeneuve - 1


So there you go.

[tc3j3r]

Not always necessarily true because the title contenders may have approached the final race differently. For example, in 08 McLaren played it ultra-conservative:
1) They turned Hamilton's engine down for the weekend costing him a tenth per lap to reduce the risk of a failure

2) They fueled him ultra heavy and pitting several laps earlier than necessary to avoid being caught out by the "pit lane closed under safety car" rules that were in place at the time

3) They ran less than the optimal level of downforce, costing laptime, to improve his straightline speed to help him overtake and defend if necessary (that's why he struggled so badly in the rain and got overtaken by Vettel, his car had completely the wrong setup for the conditions).

They knew they only needed 5th to take the title so didn't even bother trying to finish any higher. With double points they would have needed 2nd to win the title so would have approached the race much more aggressively and we'll never know what would have happened. You can't say that Massa would have won the 08 championship under the double points system.

Likewise in 2012 Vettel would have tried harder to carve through the field. Can't remember '03 well enough to say what would have happened, Prost would have won in '84 as Lauda was never going to beat him to victory in the last race. But in general, you can't apply different points systems to any season and say that's what the outcome would have been, because in last race deciders the title contenders would have approached the race differently.

[Mike_69]

For the years where it was the best result in x amount of races, have you included that or just the overall points?